Anyone have lower back problems?

[CATCH17]

And if so what is the best advice you can give or thing you have done to help fix your back.

I'm a taller guy and somehow I got a bulging disc in my lowerback and it sucks.

I can still do all the things I normally do even as far as exercise goes but sometimes there is just a really acute pain in my lower back area.

[Hostile]

Yes I do, which is another reason why I need to keep losing weight. If you've got a little beer belly, so do you. The weight up front pulls the lower back forward.

When you are having twinges use ice not heat. Ice reduces swelling.

Ibuprofen helps.

Elevate your legs slightly if you sleep on your back. Takes the strain off. This one really helps.

Do lower back stretching exercises regularly. Can't emphasize that one enough.

I go to a chiropractor pretty regularly. I've even done physical therapy but the hippie lady there about drove me out of mind with her commentary. Doctors will give you all kinds of opinions and may push meds (which I hate) or surgery (which I hate more). I have considered acupuncture, but have never done it yet.

Ultimately you have to consider all avenues of relief. When the back is really hurting they may not be a worse pain in the world. I feel for ya man.

[MichaelWinicki]

Originally Posted by CATCH17

And if so what is the best advice you can give or thing you have done to help fix your back.

I'm a taller guy and somehow I got a bulging disc in my lowerback and it sucks.

I can still do all the things I normally do even as far as exercise goes but sometimes there is just a really acute pain in my lower back area.

Is the herniated disk causing the back pain?

Sometimes it's the herniation and sometimes it's something else.

If the pain is sporadic it may not be the herniation causing it but just due to age and general weakening of the back muscles.

I know the feeling well. I can walk... walk... walk and even do some running without any lower back problems. I do my exercises every day and it doesn't cause a back problem.

But if I have to stand still in one place for too long and I get an acute pain in the lower back.

I know what a herniation can do... I've got one in my neck. And the discomfort I get in the lower back is different.

What I've been able to do is limit it through specific back exercises and stretches, which are now part of my everyday routine. It won't always keep the pain from reoccuring, but I'm not having to deal with it for several days in a row. It'll hit for one day, I spend extra time doing my back exercises and stretches and the pain is usally gone the next.

Do a google and you'll find several sites that offer a list of suggested back exercises and stretches. The one that seems to help me the most is a form of a back stretch that cats do. In other words you're on all fours and you arch your back upwards, you relax for a few seconds and then repeat. You'll feel the tightness in the lower back. There are some others that I do, but that's the main one.

[WoodysGirl]

I threw out my back about 10 years ago while stretching in my chair. Go ahead and laugh. I did.

Ever since then, I have occasional bouts where I have severe muscle spasms.

Anyways, I went to the chiropractor and she said I have a slight alignment problem with my back, but nothing too severe.

So I manage my occasional back pain between chiropractor visits and chomping down Aleve.

[BlindFaith]

Originally Posted by CATCH17

And if so what is the best advice you can give or thing you have done to help fix your back.

I'm a taller guy and somehow I got a bulging disc in my lowerback and it sucks.

I can still do all the things I normally do even as far as exercise goes but sometimes there is just a really acute pain in my lower back area.

I have two ruptured disks in my lower back. They've been that way for about 4 years now. When they first blew out it took about a year before I was pain free. Now it just gets sore if I do a lot of physical stuff. I do have to be careful and not go overboard when working out. Cause if I do manage to hurt it again, as I've done twice in the last 4 years, I'm down and out. Cant even walk.

Like Hos said, keeping the weight off helps. Stretching, keeping your core in shape. I even thought about yoga, just haven't done it yet. But its just something I'm going to have to live with. Sucks to get old.

You can get injections, but they only help temporarily. I had one shot and it helped for about a week. You can get up to three in a year I think, but for me it wasn't worth it. There is a drug called Lyrica that helped when I was in the worst pain. I don't advocate taking drugs either, but sometimes the pain is just too much.

[MichaelWinicki]

Originally Posted by BlindFaith

Stretching, keeping your core in shape. I even thought about yoga, just haven't done it yet. But its just something I'm going to have to live with. Sucks to get old.

Great points.


We get in the "weight-lifting, physical exercise" mindset and the whole stretching thing gets lost.

It's something that many of us simply have to do every single day.

[Chocolate Lab]

It may sound crazy, but get one of those inversion tables or at least just the boots that let you hang upside down. When I was a teenager I had some back problems that docs couldn't fix until I tried some of those boots in desperation. It's amazing how fast and how well it fixed it.

Now when this happens every year or two I do this and in a few days it's pretty much okay. And my back has actually gone out less often as I've gotten older, which I think has to do with inversion anytime I start to feel anything bad happening in that area.

Sounds like you're at that point, which is a good thing. When I hurt mine I could barely put my shoes on or get in my car.

[CATCH17]

Originally Posted by MichaelWinicki

Is the herniated disk causing the back pain?
Sometimes it's the herniation and sometimes it's something else.

If the pain is sporadic it may not be the herniation causing it but just due to age and general weakening of the back muscles.

I know the feeling well. I can walk... walk... walk and even do some running without any lower back problems. I do my exercises every day and it doesn't cause a back problem.

But if I have to stand still in one place for too long and I get an acute pain in the lower back.

I know what a herniation can do... I've got one in my neck. And the discomfort I get in the lower back is different.

[View Full Quote]What I've been able to do is limit it through specific back exercises and stretches, which are now part of my everyday routine. It won't always keep the pain from reoccuring, but I'm not having to deal with it for several days in a row. It'll hit for one day, I spend extra time doing my back exercises and stretches and the pain is usally gone the next.

Do a google and you'll find several sites that offer a list of suggested back exercises and stretches. The one that seems to help me the most is a form of a back stretch that cats do. In other words you're on all fours and you arch your back upwards, you relax for a few seconds and then repeat. You'll feel the tightness in the lower back. There are some others that I do, but that's the main one.

I believe so. For the last year everytime I sit down the nerves in my calves just go crazy.

I've had an MRI done and the disc is sitting on the nerve. The pain is barable but the leg muscle twitching is so annoying sometimes.

When I first realised it was injured I rested it for a month and then I went straight back to working out.


Lately i've still been lifting weights the same but have reduced my cardio to a 20 minute walk hoping it will heal quicker instead of doing intense cardio.

Im not sure if I hurt my back at work or playing racquetball but either way I got owned somehow.

[CATCH17]

Originally Posted by BlindFaith

I have two ruptured disks in my lower back. They've been that way for about 4 years now. When they first blew out it took about a year before I was pain free. Now it just gets sore if I do a lot of physical stuff. I do have to be careful and not go overboard when working out. Cause if I do manage to hurt it again, as I've done twice in the last 4 years, I'm down and out. Cant even walk.

Like Hos said, keeping the weight off helps. Stretching, keeping your core in shape. I even thought about yoga, just haven't done it yet. But its just something I'm going to have to live with. Sucks to get old.

You can get injections, but they only help temporarily. I had one shot and it helped for about a week. You can get up to three in a year I think, but for me it wasn't worth it. There is a drug called Lyrica that helped when I was in the worst pain. I don't advocate taking drugs either, but sometimes the pain is just too much.

I just turned 27 and im worried about this thing never going away or just getting worse. Sucks man.


Im going to start icing it more like Hos said and just try to stretch it.

I've been nurturing more and more lately but some of the stuff I do at work only makes it worse sometimes.

[CATCH17]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Lab

It may sound crazy, but get one of those inversion tables or at least just the boots that let you hang upside down. When I was a teenager I had some back problems that docs couldn't fix until I tried some of those boots in desperation. It's amazing how fast and how well it fixed it.

Now when this happens every year or two I do this and in a few days it's pretty much okay. And my back has actually gone out less often as I've gotten older, which I think has to do with inversion anytime I start to feel anything bad happening in that area.

Sounds like you're at that point, which is a good thing. When I hurt mine I could barely put my shoes on or get in my car.

Boots that let you hang upside down?

[Chocolate Lab]

Originally Posted by CATCH17

Boots that let you hang upside down?

Google inversion boots or inversion tables... They're the same thing except the boots alone are a lot cheaper, you just hang from a chinup bar or jungle gym at a local park or even a piece of pipe you hang or mount somehow. The table is for older people who aren't strong enough to get themselves back up from the upside down position.

It's really just putting your back in traction. In totally non-medical terms it stretches your vertebrae apart so that the nerve is no longer being pinched. When you do that for a while, the nerve will calm down and the muscles will relax.

When I hurt my back as a kid a doctor prescribed me this ridiculous thing that you set up in a doorway, where a bag of water was used as a weight to pull your neck up in a primitive form of traction. Totally worthless piece of junk contraption that didn't do anything. Hanging upside did do the trick.

[jobberone]

If all you have is back pain and you're certain its musculoskeletal then stretching and the proper exercise will help. Unless the nerve root is pinched then the herniation probably doesn't mean much. Those come and go in much of the adult population.

Stretching the hamstrings, strengthening the core, regular exercise and maintaining a decent weight helps most.

[Doc50]

Ice is for injuries and pain. It stimulates competing neuroreceptors, thereby lessening the pain response. In injuries it constricts blood and lymph vessels, reducing fluid leakage into surrounding tissues, essentially limiting the effects of the injury.
Heat conversly dilates blood and lymph vessels, delivering more oxygen and nutrients to the effected site, and allowing CO2 and lactic acid to be more efficiently transported away from the site; this is especially effective for any muscle spasm component, and should be routinely used in rehab.
No one has a perfectly aligned spine. While chiropracters can provide some helpful physical therapy, there is no subluxation or dislocation to address. The pops you get are the same as popping your knuckles.
The improvement usually comes with restoring normal range of motion.
True nerve root compression must be alleviated in order to prevent permanent nerve damage and muscle atrophy.

[CATCH17]

Would this item help me out??

[Bull Frog]

Originally Posted by CATCH17

And if so what is the best advice you can give or thing you have done to help fix your back.

I'm a taller guy and somehow I got a bulging disc in my lowerback and it sucks.

I can still do all the things I normally do even as far as exercise goes but sometimes there is just a really acute pain in my lower back area.

Two-hundred situps a day make the back pain go away. My issue may differ from yours though. I was having back spasms frequently. The kind of back spasms that bring you to a halt and force you to lay down. There may be some disc problems that I don't know about and won't find out about.

I started doing situps after my morning run and that has helped me tremendously. Earlier this year I stopped running as frequently and when I don't run I don't do situps although I could. My back started tightening up. Everytime I stood up it was difficult to straighten up. I started the situps again and gradually worked back into running. I feel great as of right now. Oh, and make sure you stay hydrated.

If it's a disc problem disregard the above. I recommend a lumbar lamenectomy.